WMO Report on CO2 Emissions

Subject – Environment

Context – ‘CO2 emissions in 2020 above decadal average’

Concept –

A report from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said the increase in CO2 from 2019 to 2020 was slightly lower than that observed from 2018 to 2019 but higher than the average annual growth rate over the past decade. This is despite the approximately 5.6% drop in fossil fuel CO2 emissions in 2020 due to restrictions related to the pandemic.
Updated data shows that the pandemic disruption in 2020 didn’t significantly dent overall greenhouse gas emissions.
For methane, the increase from 2019 to 2020 was higher than that observed from 2018 to 2019 and also higher than the average annual growth rate over the past decade.
For nitrous oxides also, the increase was higher and also than the average annual growth rate over the past 10 years.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI) shows that from 1990 to 2020, radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) increased by 47%, with CO2 accounting for about 80% of this increase.
- Radiative forcing — the warming effect on our climate — by long-lived greenhouse gases.
Roughly half of the CO2 emitted by human activities today remains in the atmosphere. The other half is taken up by oceans and land ecosystems.
The numbers are based on monitoring by WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch network.